if only
by rubies and diamonds
Summary: he kisses her like its victory


**a/n:** im trash. you're trash. we're all trash here.

**disclaimer:** thank jesus every day i don't own a video game franchise save yourselves

* * *

"Dingdingding!" Naegi yells, louder than any of them had ever heard him speak, his voice a higher pitch and sounding off from his usual tone. "You've. Got. That. Wrong!" he sings, laughing uproariously. "Someone dead coming back to life? _P__lease_. This may be a _game_ but we can't have anything that sci-fi going on! Give us some _credit_!"

His eyes have gone turbulent almost, swirling, heavy bags that were already prominent deeper still. His cheeks seem sallower, his usual self-depreciating smile gone, replaced with an uneven, twitching grin, looking as though it were held together by strings, pulling at either side of his face. He looked, for lack of a better word, insane.

"...What?" Aoi asks, confusion written across her face. "But she... Junko... she used Mukuro's corpse... It wasn't hers... Kiri solved it..."

He laughs again, a bit more breathy this time, and grins manically over at Kirigiri, then letting his face contort into a somber expression upon catching her eye. His eyes seem to darken, and it looked as though he had gained ten years worth of experience without ageing a day. "I have to say, I didn't think you could pull it off, babe." His smirk was lecherous, cold and cruel.

She rolls her eyes, unphased by the change in his expression and personality. "Of course I could. Don't insult me like that." She sounds contempt, but smiles slightly at him anyway.

He laughs again, back to the high pitch he terrified the rest of the kids with at first. "There's my girl, she knows just how great she is!" He jumps off his stand at the podium and walks over to hers, throwing his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "You know I'm kidding," he says, nuzzling in to the back of her neck before popping back up and saying, "I knew you could do it because you're brilliant! Isn't she _brilliant_?" he asks the remainder of the group, revelling in the confusion and distrust upon their faces.

"Naegi... What...?" Aoi asks, looking lost.

"Don't forget me," Kirigiri snaps, glaring at her. "He couldn't have done this without me." There is no smile for Aoi, only a cold, stony expression, and hate-filled eyes.

"That's right, so insensitive of you, Aoi!" he scolds, kissing Kirigiri on the cheek and pouting over exaggeratedly. "None of this would've happened without Kyouko's help!"

Togami, done with being confused, reverts back to rage. "What's the meaning of this?" he snaps, glaring at the couple. "We solved the mystery! We figured out Mukuro Ikusaba's relevance to the case! Where is Junko Enoshima?"

Naegi snorts, scornful, and Kirigiri lets out a mocking giggle.

"What if..." Naegi begins, a terrifyingly knowing smirk upon his lips, his eyes cold and calculating.

"She never existed?" Kirigiri finishes, looking smug.

"Oooh, isn't Kyouko just so _cooool_," Naegi gushed, on his tiptoes to peep around at her expression. She casts her gaze down to meet his, eyebrow raised, her smirk turning into something slightly more genuine.

"What are you talking about?" she sounds at least slightly annoyed.

"You're _cool_, Kyouko," he says, nodding with some difficulty as his chin was still upon her shoulder.

"W-w... w-w-w-what's... w-w-w-what's going _on_ here?!" Touko screeches, interrupting them, grabbing ahold of her braids. "T-T-This is so unreal! Who is M-M-Mukuro Ikusaba? Why where w-w-we locked in here? W-What the h-h-hell is going _on_?!"

"Oh," Naegi says, snapping his head up to meet Touko, gaze blank. "Oh oh oh oh oh?" he repeats, tilting his head to the side slightly. "What's going _on_ here, is that I am talking. Surely the 'Super High School Level Bookworm' knows a thing or two about dialogue, no?"

"U-u-uh.." she stammers, a cold sweat forming at the back of her neck.

"So then _why_ is it, she can't recognise when two people are conversing?" he asks rhetorically. "Hmmm..." he ponders, holding a hand to the corner of his mouth. "I wonder..."

There's an unspoken but collective agreement that this may possibly be the most terrifying of all his mood changes yet.

"I haven't seen this side of you in a while, Mako," Kirigiri says, her eyes still trained on him, a faint pink dusting the pale of her cheeks.

The change of his personalities was instant, like someone had snapped their fingers and he was at mercy to their every wish. "I _knoooow_, and I _knooow_ you love it, but I haven't had the chance to be _normal_ when I'm with these bastards every. Single. Fucking. Day." He tightens his hold on her, but she doesn't seem to notice. "We've been with these bastards for _so_ _long_, and we've been acting for _sooo looong_," he whines dramatically burying his face in the crook of her neck, swaying her from side to side. "It's gotten so _old_," he says on monotone, sobering up instantly, his face back to the blank and empty stare, focusing on nothing but he empty space in front of him.

"It has, hasn't it?" she agrees, smiling wickedly at him before redirecting her gaze back to the remaining four.

"Naegs... Kiri... Just.. What? Why? How?" Hagakure wails, frantically looking back and forth between the remaining students and the couple.

"Explain to us. Right now." Togami says in silent fury.

"Ooooh, Kyouko, Loooook. Togami's trying to be the protagonist now," He sniggers, releasing her from his grasp. "Boooooor-ing!" he booes, throwing up his arms, much like Monokuma had done in the various times they had spoken to him, and hopping over the wooden podium, standing in the centre of the court. "Come on! Is that all you can say? '_Whaaat_?' '_Whyyy_?' '_N__oooo_!'" he mimics scornfully, eyes on the remaining students. "Yes, me and Kyouko made all this happen. Brilliant, isn't it? The two kids who came to Kibougamine with no background information given on them, gone on to bring down the world as you know it! It's _brilliant_!" he cries, his voice getting louder as he continued on with his tirade, his manic smile growing wider, more unhinged.

"Mako, I think they want to know _how_ we did it," Kirigiri says, moving from her podium to sit atop Monokuma's throne above the rest. "I don't have to be on the same level as you all anymore," she says as a way of explanation, crossing one leg over the other as she reclines on the throne, flicking her sheet of silvery hair over one shoulder, looking every bit like the tyrannical ruler.

He turns to her. "Ugh, but that's so _boooring_! We've been there, done that, why do _they_ need to know?"

"The people watching back home probably want a conclusion to this game," Kirigiri began, though her tone was careless, like it was of little importance, "but-"

"Stop calling it a game!" Aoi yells, tears in her eyes, interrupting her.

Her reaction was instant, her head snapping down to face her, glaring daggers that Aoi could physically feel penetrate her skin. "Shut up. Know your place." There was no room left for argument in her tone, cold down to the core, drenched in malice and hatred.

As if the exchange has never taken place, she turns back to Naegi, shrugging carelessly. "_but, _I think you need to tell them. They can't fully despair not knowing the reason _why _they were locked up in here and so cruelly murdered their classmates of three years, can they?"

Naegi nods. "As always, you're right," he says, turning from facing her back to the four. "As you now know, Mukuro Ikusaba never existed," he says sombrely, looking bored. "She is entirely fictional."

"S-so whose s-student profile was it that w-we found then?" Touko stammers.

"Wow you're slow!" Naegi exclaims, exasperated. "We. Forged. It." he says slowly, like talking to a child. "You'd be surprised just how easy it was."

"And what of the tattoo and her measurements perfectly lining up to the corpses?" Togami asks.

"Even _you _Togami? I'm disappointed," he sighs. "Ah well, I guess that's all you guys do. Disappoint, disappoint, disappoint" he sighed again. "We used Junko's measurements, _obviously_, and that tattoo was nothing but a temporary one left on her post-mortem. I actually can't believe you fell for it, but that's my Kyouko!" he looked up to her, childish reverence on his features, a soft sort of grin on his face. "She always knows what to do."

She smiled back down at him, just before he snapped back to the four, in order to continue on with his tale, face back to the expression they all knew so well, though instead of the usual comfort they felt by it, it was all they could do to repress the shivers that threatened to snake down their spines.

"So there you have it! Mukuro Ikusaba isn't real. Never has been, never will be."

"So all of that sixteenth student stuff was a lie?" Aoi asks.

"Of course! Just look at who told you it!" he says, laughing again.

"So the Junko we met at the beginning of this... was the real Junko?" Hagakure asks.

"Yes!" Naegi snaps, face contorting in anger. "Keep up! God, this is so _tedious_! Mukuro Ikusaba isn't real! Every Junko Enoshima you've ever met up until the moment she died has been the real Junko! She died right after Sayaka, and _didn't_ come back to life, or swap places with anyone, or anything! She just_ died_!"

"So then who's been controlling Monokuma?" Aoi asks. "I've been with you when he's appeared... Same with Kiri..."

"Ah, but have you ever seen the two of us_ together_ with Monokuma? One-on-one?" Naegi asks, his anger gone and grin firmly back in place. "... or, two-on-one? You said so yourself, Togami, that Kyouko goes off too much by herself and we don't know where she is. Well, I did! But you didn't."

"W-wait... What about t-those times in the gym and c-cafeteria then?" Touko asks. "H-huh?!"

"Wow! Someone asked a good question!" he cheered. "Gold star for you, Touko! And to answer your question: Chichi helped us there!" Naegi laughs. "Not that she knew about it, but she did!"

"Chihiro...?" Aoi asks.

"Yup! In the time you've lost, those precious three years, Chichi finished her AI program! Completely! Nothing like the cut-rate version she completed here. We used a copy in Monokuma for the mundane things like announcements and incentives, because they didn't require any real emotion or thoughtful response in the way a one-on-one conversation does. But when it came down to things like him talking to one of you alone, it was either me or Kyouko! It was usually her though, since you bastards wouldn't let me out of your sight! It was kind of cute that you trusted me that much, but also kind of disgusting and pathetic." His face had grown a shallow sneer as he ended his speech.

"...Why?" Aoi asks, tears in her eyes. "What did we do to you that was so awful? Was it in those three years? I can speak for all of us when I say that we're sorry!"

Naegi's laugh rung around the court room like metal hitting metal, cold and hard. "You think _you're_ important enough to shape us into the way we are?" he snorted. "_Please__._ What is it with you Super High School Level kids and your insanely inflated egos? _You aren't that important_. Ever heard those words before in your life? I doubt it."

"Then what _happened_ to you? Why?" Aoi's tears were freely flowing now, tracing tracks down her tan skin.

He turns to Kirigiri at that. "I think this questions better suited for you, babe."

She rolls her eyes, walking down from her elevated throne. "It's awful, being on the same level as these kids. How did you even _stand_ it?" she asks, glaring at the floor around her, like it had greatly offended her.

"Because I knew you didn't want to play my part of being super-hero friends-with-everyone protagonist. I do know you, y'know," he says, smirking.

"I know," she agrees, kissing his cheek lightly.

Sly smirk staying in place, he walks over to the side of the circle and leans against a podium handrail, eyes trained on Kirigiri.

"Hmm..." she says, running a hand through her long hair. "Why... Why why whywhywhy," she repeats, as if testing the word, tasting it on her tounge. "I was raised in a rather despairing situation. My father left, leaving me with a senile grandparent who didn't know who I was most of the time, I never knew my mother, nor her fate... I suppose she died before I could retain any memories of her, or just left like my father..." she shrugged. "Not that it matters. What matters is I grew up in an environment where everyone judged me. Townspeople pitying me, people who knew of my situation pitying me, everyone just casting their eyes down and saying 'it's okay', or 'it gets better', like they had a clue what they were talking about." She huffs out a breath. "It angered me more than it made me despair though," she pauses, pulling her hair behind her ear. "So when I received my welcome letter to this school, the school my father loved so much more than his only daughter, I saw it as him teasing me, goading me. He knew I hated the school, hated him, yet he still sent me the snide letter, letting me know I was welcome into his life once more. I was fuming. I was so angry, I didn't know what to do with myself. I wanted to cause suffering, hurt, despair. I wanted to hurt him so badly it made my bones shake. So I accepted his proposal, and came to the school. I greeted him like a student, not like a daughter, showed nothing but contempt for him and everything to do with this school. That's..."

"That's when I stepped in!" Naegi cheers, rushing from his place and over to her. "I don't like that story. I don't like you being sad," he admits plaintively, hugging her from behind once more. "I met Kyouko, just like I did all of you, and BANG!" he shouts, letting go of Kirigiri and clapping his hands together. "My despair mixed with her anger... It was perfect! We spent _so long_ coming up with this plan... I had to keep the 'Super High School Level Hope' persona up for _so long_... Had to convince people of things for _so long_... And now its come to its climax! It's so brillant!"

"Why were you despairing though, Naegi?" Aoi asks, tear stains looking like lacerations in the harsh light of the courtroom.

"Ugh, more explaining?" he moans. "Okay. Completely ordinary, got in on something ordinary, ridiculous, even... You guys don't know what it's like being mediocre. You've spent your whole lives being extraordinary. You think you can handle it, but then you have an overachieving sister, parents who compare you to her, the worst luck known to man and get caught up in unbelievable happenings on a regular basis, then get thrown in the deep end with all you super high schoolers... It's daunting. Intimidating. Terrifying. Then I found out Kibougamine's true goal as a result of my unpredictable luck, about what they kept us all together for... What they did to Hinata... Why they even started a prep school... It was disgusting. It made me feel even more useless, thrown even deeper into the dregs of despair. It wasn't something ridiculous like 'birthright' or 'how I was made to function', because no one is born without hope. No, you just slowly lose it or gain it over your time in this life. And me and Kyouko didn't gain much! The only 'hope' we ever really gained was meeting each other! And even that would mean despair for the world!" he sighed, an easy smile on his lips. "We just can't do anything right, can we Kyouko?"

She laughed lightly. "No, it seems we can't."

"Then what?" Hagakure asks, scratching at his head, like he can't wrap his mind around the premise.

"So, I set about change. This is where the plan started, the one me and Kyouko had thought up, and the Super High School Level Hope persona kicked in. I rallied the prep schoolers, and I think even this academic coliseum proves just how influential I can be. I made them angry, furious at how they were being treated. I told them the reason they were there, why Kibougamine kept them around, their despair and anger stronger than ever before. I spoke to Kamukura, the form Hinata had taken after the Kibougamine scientists had messed with his brains, turning him into someone completely different. Convincing him to carry out 'the Worst, Most Despair Inducing Incident of Kibougamine Academy' was so easy it was laughable. And after the prep school knew of the teachers hiding the student council committee's murders being hidden for the sake of protecting their one precious student, or should I say project... Well, then the riots started, just as I slunk out. Kyouko handled the school from there, fanning the flames and starting to prepare for all of this, finding out how to remove your memories and annihilating every last student that stood in the way; and online, she started countless threads and posts and tweets and memes about what was going on, letting the world know how their revered 'School of Hope' was being torn down from the inside out, about just how corrupted it really was, while I set out to spread the fever worldwide. I rallied minimum-wage workers to revolt against bosses, then on to the government. They were angry enough already, all they needed was a push. 'If high schoolers can do it, why can't you?'" he laughed. "Soon the despair had set in. It wasn't long before it turned into what you see on the screens now. And that's all because of me and Kyouko!" He threw an arm around her at that, pulling her into a heady kiss, almost like it was a form of celebration. "We make a pretty good team, If I do say so myself."

She grinned devilishly. "We most certainly do."

He laughed as he brought out a big, red button on a wooden slate from his hoodie's pocket. "I think it's time. Would you like to do the honours, my lady?"

"I most certainly would," she affirms, holding her hand out over the large button. Her eyes were like Naegi's at the start of all this, turbulent and full, brimming with despair.

Instant recognition passes unanimously through the four. "What?!"

"We haven't been found guilty of anything!"

"What is the meaning of this?"

"S-s-s-stop!"

"Ah, such lovely cries of terror," Naegi says, ignoring them all.

"It's a shame they bored us so," Kirigiri continues. The four are but background noise to the two.

"If only they had been a little quicker on the uptake."

"If only they hadn't relied on me and you as their staple backbones."

"If only," Naegi says sorrowfully.

"If only," Kirigiri agrees, kissing him with a smile on her lips as she slams her hand down on the button.

* * *

**a/n:** we're all trash here in trashville


End file.
